1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to the field of medication dispenser systems. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a variety of systems and methods which may be used for storage and dispensing medication.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present invention overcomes the shortcomings and the deficiencies of the prior art and is directed to systems and methods which solve or at least substantially reduce the impact of problems associated with existing pharmaceutical and medication dispenser systems.
Currently in the field of medication dispensing systems, a typical system includes a computer controlled machine which stores, processes, and packages medication for distribution. The computer receives a patient's prescription, processes the appropriate dosage, and dispenses the unpackaged medication into containers or packages. The packages may work in a number of different settings for a specific patient or the package may contain a single specific product. Such conventional solid pharmaceutical packaging systems provide many advantages in large pharmacy formularies and pharmaceutical distribution centers primarily due to the physical size of the packaging device.
Personal medication with individual packages that group medications based on their administration times as well as several packages of individual medications divided by dosage are well known in the art. Such existing systems provide advantages for distribution, but many problems remain.
One significant deficiency of conventional automated dispensing systems is that they require considerable resources. For example, existing systems require sophisticated management software to process, retrieve, dispense, and track the different medications. In addition, they are often very large and require dedicated space. Finally, such systems are also very expensive and are unavailable or impractical for smaller healthcare facilities, such as nursing homes, local pharmacies, and individual hospital floors.
Many health care facilities still use distribution pharmacies in which employees inventory, process and distribute the medication. This is undesirable because several studies have shown that human error is a significant cause in the distribution and administration of incorrect medication. Administration of incorrect medication can result in mistreatment, severe health complications and even death. However, studies have also shown that such problems are significantly reduced when automated dispensing systems are utilized. Automated dispensing systems are typically used to store and provide access to the prescription medications based on a doctor's order.
Another deficiency of existing systems is that they are inefficient in situations where several medications need to be dispensed at schedules times and in situations where medications must be dispensed immediately such as in hospital emergency rooms or when a new patient is admitted to a nursing home and the medications for the individual have not yet been delivered. In existing systems, healthcare providers or other appropriate individuals request the medication from the operator of the automated dispensing system typically located at a different central location. The operator then processes the appropriate medication and arranges for its physical transportation to the requesting healthcare provider.
Large health care facilities use a system of transportation tubes or elevators to reduce the delivery times. Smaller facilities such as nursing homes and local pharmacies do not contain such elaborate transport systems. Accordingly, medications are manually transported to several locations.
By way of example, in nursing homes all the medication must be administered from a medication cart that is pushed up and down the hall. Often times, the medications are delayed in the transport result in the administration of the medicine at the wrong time. Unfortunately, administration of incorrect medication has become pervasive not only in nursing homes but also in healthcare facilities such as hospitals. This is especially disastrous in emergency situations where healthcare providers must immediately evaluate patients, quickly administer care to stabilize a patient's condition.
In nursing homes, fishing tackle boxes are currently used for distributing controlled substances directly to patients. Once a pharmaceutical product has been removed from the tackle box, the entire box must be returned to the pharmacy from which it was provided so that the pharmacy may properly account for the use of the pharmaceutical products contained within the fishing tackle box.
The present distribution of controlled substances in this matter has numerous shortcomings because there is too great a potential for the theft of the pharmaceutical products and inadequate inventory control of the products.
Personalized packaging that is prepared in a remote location solves some of the existing problems but many issues still remain. For example, there remain problems relating to access and control of the pharmaceutical products, even when they have been previously packaged. Even though packaging may be personalized, it is still possible for a health care worker to administer incorrect medications. Furthermore, there is the issue of controlling access to medications. This is a particularly important problem related to the handling of controlled substances. Additionally, in healthcare facilities where packaging of pharmaceuticals is personalized, a problem exists relating to the issue of unused medication.
The present invention overcomes the shortcomings and deficiencies of the prior art and is directed to systems and methods which solve or at least substantially reduce the impact of these problems associated with existing medication dispensing systems.
One object and advantage of the present invention is to provide a system which stores and dispenses medication from an individual storage/dispenser unit.
It is another object and advantage of the present invention to provide a system that comprises an independent medical information system.
It is further an additional object and advantage of the present invention to provide a system that may be used with any individual medical information unit within a medical information system.
It is further an object and advantage of the present invention to provide a system which is small in size.
It is yet another object and advantage for the present invention to provide a system which can be readily transported.
It is still further another object and advantage of the present invention to provide a system which may be used by individuals without specialized expertise.
It is yet another object and advantage of the present invention to provide a system which is cost effective for both small and large healthcare facilities as well as other medication dispensing facilities.
It is yet another additional object and advantage of the present invention to provide a system that is more secure than existing automated dispensing systems.
The above and other objects, advantages, and features of the present invention will become readily appreciated and understood from consideration of the following detailed description of the preferred exemplary embodiments of the present invention when taken together with the accompanying drawings of the present invention.